Nicholas Korody began publishing responses from anonymous questionnaires on the topic of architecture students average student debt and it’s effects. Alternative thinks there are just four solutions; - intervention by the federal government, attrition at architecture schools, limit access to... View full entry »

Thousands of bus stops in Brazil completely lack signage to indicate which buses actually stop there. The nation-wide inconvenience has finally been tackled by one of the biggest community projects in the world.

‘Que Ônibus Passa Aqui?’ (‘Which Bus Stops here?’) is a resident-led initiative which has taken Brazil by storm.
— popupcity.net

For the latest edition of The Deans List: Amelia Taylor-Hochberg interviewed Mark Wigley, former Dean of Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.Reflecting on the service-model of architecture he suggested "There will be the financial equivalent of... View full entry »

Communities can transform underused areas of L.A.’s largest public asset—our 7,500 miles of city streets—into active, vibrant, and accessible public space with People St, a program of the City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT). Eligible Community Partners can apply for approval to create projects that enhance the quality of life in this city. Three innovative types of projects are available: Plazas, Parklets, and Bicycle Corrals.
— People St.

Los Angeles began piloting its "People St." program in 2011, developing spaces designed to reclaim sections of streetspace for public recreation and use, rather than car traffic. The projects were few but popular, including the Sunset Triangle (designed by Rios Clementi Hale Studios) plaza in... View full entry »

Some of the most densely populated cities across the globe are tackling population growth and food shortages by establishing more rooftop farms. Vertical farms are popping up on unused rooftops in cities across the globe and the outcome is extremely positive.
— DesignBuild Source

UPSTATE was created [as a] framework for sustained collaboration with the community and the city—in our case a post-industrial city in upstate New York that's been grappling with a shrinking population, eroding tax base, crumbling infrastructure, underfunded schools, cash-strapped services. The challenges aren't new—they're the challenges of cities all across the rust belt—but they're real, and they're intensifying.
— Places Journal

Continuing a series on university design centers, Places editor Nancy Levinson interviews Julia Czerniak and Joe Sisko of UPSTATE at Syracuse University. The slideshow features work by Koning Eizenberg Architecture, Cook+Fox, ARO and Della Valle Bernheimer, Onion Flats, the Near West Side... View full entry »

NL: In some cases, the local professional design community regards university-based design centers as potential competitions What is the UACDC's relationship with the local professionals?

SL: Well, teaching and research hospitals don’t refrain from delivering medical services. We've enjoyed broad-based support from the professional design communities — but still, these types of skirmishes are symptomatic of a structural underdevelopment in the design profession.
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Over at Places Design Observer, Nancy Levinson interviewed Stephen Luoni Director of the University of Arkansas Community Design Center. The two discuss UACDC's projects such as their Visioning Rail Transit in Northwest Arkansas: Lifestyles and Ecologies, Low Impact Development: A Design Manual... View full entry »